▶ If you are dealing with a community tragedy, learn as much as possible about the event and deal with and articulate the powerful emotions and reactions related to the event.
▶ Know your own "triggers" and vulnerable areas and learn to defuse them or avoid them.
▶ Resolve your own personal issues and continue to monitor your own reactions to others' pain.
▶ Be human and allow yourself to grieve when bad things happen to others. Remember that "normal responses to abnormal situations" is true for helpers, as well as victims.
▶ Develop realistic expectations about the rewards, as well as limitations of your role, and set boundaries for yourself.
▶ Become aware of, and alter, irrational beliefs about the limitations of helping.
▶ Balance your work with other professional and personal activities that provide opportunities for growth and renewal:

• Exercise, garden, walk, clean house
• Read good novels
• Watch television
• Go to church
• Cook for friends
• Socialize with family or friends
• Take vacations
• Leave work at work
• Shop
• Do nothing
• Meditate/pray
• Get a massage
• Turn music up loud

▶ Find opportunities to acknowledge and work through your experience in a supportive environment. Debrief yourself regularly and build healthy support groups.
▶ Seek assistance from co-workers and caregivers who have had similar experiences dealing with compassion fatigue and have remained healthy and hopeful. Learn from their experience and take their advice.
▶ Delegate responsibilities and get help from others for routine work when appropriate.
▶ Develop a healthy support system to protect yourself from further fatigue and emotional exhaustion.
▶ Remember that most victims of trauma do grow and learn from their experiences and so can helpers.

▶ Eat nutritious food, exercise, rest and meditate or pray and take care of yourself as a whole being.
▶ Set and keep healthy boundaries for work. Ask yourself, "Would the world fall apart if I step away from my work for a day or a week?"
▶ Think about the idea that if you never say "no," what is your "yes" worth?
▶ Find activities that provide opportunities for growth and renewal.
▶ Take an honest look at your life before a crisis strikes. Find help to identify your obvious risks and work to correct or minimize them.
▶ Find ways to provide yourself with the emotional and spiritual strength for the future.
▶ Develop and reward a sense of humor. Expose yourself to humorous situations. Learn to laugh, enjoy life and have healthy personal relationships.
▶ Learn to relax by breathing deeply.
▶ Avoid chaotic situations and learn simplicity.
▶ Take time to return to normal activities regularly.
▶ Avoid additional stressful situations.
▶ Review how you are spending time.
▶ Sleep well.

▶ Learning mindfulness meditation is an excellent way to ground yourself in the moment and keep your thoughts from pulling you in different directions. The ability to reconnect with a spiritual source will also help you achieve inner balance and can produce an almost miraculous turnaround, even when your world seems its blackest.
▶ Put child to bed and take a bath.
▶ Get up early.
▶ Stay overnight somewhere other than your own home to be alone with yourself.

▶ Something as simple as committing to eating better and stopping all other activities while eating can have an exponential benefit on both your psyche and your physical body. A regular exercise program can reduce stress, help you achieve outer balance and reenergize you for time with family and friends.
▶ Hold one focused, connected and meaningful conversation each day. This will jumpstart even the most depleted batteries. Time with family and friends feeds the soul like nothing else and sadly seems to be the first thing to go when time is scarce.

▶ Determine other approaches to the issue or concern or look at an action/event through the lens of others.
▶ Think outside the box.